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Animus Suits
An Animus Suit is a form of advanced combat suit utilized by the New Ascendancy and Later the Gauss Dominion, Federation of Free Katharian Planets, Courdeel Empire and Hoytachian Syndicate, and were the primary weapons used in the First Animus War and Second Animus War. It was something of a misnomer, even in universe as the "suit" consisted of two parts, a Synch Suit and the Animus Suit proper. It was also a misnomer in that the animus suit itself was not just a suit, but rather a construct roughly 4-5x the height of its intended pilot, with the pilot seated inside the chest. Animus suits were unique from all other weapon systems in that they utilized the energy of their anima; the energy of their soul which would manipulate the quantum states of particles within their brains providing them fidelity and free will over their physical body; magnify this energy and then project it into the environment around them. However due to a poor understanding of the technology, on a select few beings with high Animus Propensity could operate these suits without risk to themselves. Synch and Desynch Procedure Upon synching with an animus suit, the animus gates would open into the suit. This would cause the soul to spill into the suit’s animus grid; a receptive network of braided Arsium conduits which would absorb the expanding anima of the pilot; with the pilot taking control; bringing the suit to life. However the pilot’s body needed to be seated inside of the suit as their brain would still be accessed while piloting the suit, although their biological body would not move or operate any controls but instead enter a comatose state akin to NREM sleep, which was identical to pilots of all species. Synching to a suit was relatively easy (compared with Desynching, anyways) There was some difficulty to it; opening the animus gates in the correct order and ensuring the correct aspects of the soul filled the correct portions of the animus grid. (To make sure the pilot’s soul didn’t think the leg of the suit was a head or something like that.) Synch Failure It was possible for a synch failure to occur though it rarely occurred in a well made suit. Synching to an animus suit originally took several seconds, depending upon the quality synch suits and animus grids. Though typically when a suit was still under development for a new pilot it would take several iterations to develop an animus grid that was receptive to their soul, and could therefore result in a quick and safe synchronization. *Synch Failure: Improper synch. The wrong aspects of the soul are inserted into the wrong parts of the suit. (The head becomes a foot or something like that.) *Synch Failure: Incomplete synch. Aspects of the pilots soul are not filling part of the animus grid. Typically a problem with low-AP pilots in B and C tier. *Synch Failure: Oversynch. Aspects of the pilots soul are powering or triggering a functionality of the suit simply by being present in it. This typically involves excess energy being unconsciously directed to a weapon, thruster of servomuscle. This can typically be resolved by the suit’s keeper. Typically a problem with very high-AP pilots. *Synch Failure: Anima Vacuum. The pilot’s anima was pulled out of their biological body and completely into the suit. With a careful desynch this can be resolved and the pilot can quickly be necessitated. Another problem typical of low-AP pilots in B and C tier. *Synch Failure: Anima Fracture. The synch happened too quickly and the pilot’s soul was torn apart and died. The pilot is dead regardless of biological health. Upon synching to an animus suit a pilot would have themselves placed inside the chest cavity wearing a synch suit. At this point their animus gates would have already been opened by the synch suit; described as feeling like a sharp pinprick when the gate opens; then having hot blood rushing to the point and spilling out at an incredible rate but being refreshed. (Skilled pilots can control the flow of this energy and prevent it from rushing out uncontrolled.) Upon having their head animus gate open the pilot would feel themselves being pulled upwards and out of their body and losing consciousness akin to be coming extremely sleepy and losing consciousness extremely quickly, then waking up to find their body and experience now happening through the animus suit. Because the pilot didn’t just operate the suit but instead experienced reality as their physical body being the suit; animus suits were often built to mirror the pilot’s own anatomy. This helped the animus grid to better synch with the pilot’s anima. This experience could be very disorienting for unseasoned pilots as they (as though they had been asleep) might lose track of the situation and forget what was going on; awakening to find themselves confused as to what happened. Though season pilots could make the transition without incident. Once synched to the suit the pilot could make use of its full functionality. What the armored suits were able to do exactly will be discussed in the next section. Desynch Failure Deyschronzing from the suit was somewhat more difficult and something the Dominion took some time to perfect. As a powerful soul capable of piloting an animus suit was in its natural state inhabiting a large body capable of fully utilizing its power; the extent of the soul had to be carefully flushed from the animus grid, and this was generally where a number of things could go wrong. *Desynch Failure: Flush Error. The pilot’s soul could not be flushed from the animus grid. *Desynch Failure: Core not found. The pilot’s biological body could not be detected by the suit and therefore it is unclear how to flush them. *Desynch Failure: Pilot Resistance. The pilot is willingly combating the suit attempting to flush the pilot’s anima from the suit. *Desynch Failure: Flush Incomplete. The pilot’s soul was not completely flushed from the grid. This could result in the pilot’s soul being trapped with varying aspects of it affixed to the suit and the now no longer connected biological body. In this instance one of several things could happen. Animus Damage *The pilot’s soul would act like a bungie cord, snapping into the suit leaving the pilot’s body soulless. This would cause a being to lose all emotion and begin to undergo death. If the pilot was quickly resynched to the suit and the issue resolved by performing a proper desynchronization. Meanwhile the suit would contain the pilot’s anima but not their memories or thoughts meaning it was powered but could behave unpredictably. Normally in this instance the Keeper would shut down all non-essential systems. *The pilot’s soul would bungie cord back into the body. In this instance the pilot would be fine in spite of the rapid desynch. *The pilot’s soul would bungie back into their body incorrectly or incompletely. (Think of it like a video cassette that ejected its tape all over the place.) It was possible to bounce back from this but the pilot might undergo erratic behavior, slips in consciousness or a permanent comatose state depending upon the nature of their anima and the severity of the disrupted soul. *The pilot’s soul would break break, with a portion of it remaining in the suit and a portion of it remaining in their body. In this instance the suit would retain power in the portions of it that did not flush and the pilot would become paralyzed in those areas in spite of their biological health. This was possible to repair if the pilot re synchronized with the suit and desynched correctly although their soul would still be fragmented it could heal given time. (Some souls could recover from this in seconds, others would take a lifetime.) *The pilot’s soul would bungie into metaspace between the suit’s grid and their biological body. The pilot would die. Rapid and proper desynchronization was very important as most animus suits needed quick ejection systems. A correct desynchronization was often the most difficult part of a suit’s design to perfect. Pilots who suffered improper synchronization were typically victims of PSAD (Physical Symptoms of Anima Damage). These symptoms typically included inexplicable bleeding from the eyes, nose or mouth, loss of feeling, loss of movement or complete paralyzation of a limb or portion of the body without medical cause, random burning or aching sensations, muscle degradation, fainting, dizziness, impaired reaction time and judgement, increased need or desire for sleep or rest, inability to sleep or rest, irritability or uncharacteristic behavior, unexplained burns or sores surrounding the animus gates. Cures for PSAD were unknown, though some Go’shii mystics claimed that the hot springs on the planet Toplin had mystical properties which could realign and heal the soul. These hot springs were a popular vacation destination for even healthy animus pilots. Effects on the Pilot More often than not Pilots would suffer Physical Animus Gate Strain Syndrome. Referred to as “The Paggs”. It was no secret that using an animus suit to its full potential placed a strain upon the pilot’s soul, which in turn placed a physical strain on the pilot’s body. Depending upon how long the pilot had been using the suit and how much strain they put on themselves the effects could vary but they resembled the effects of extremely intense exercise. As such the common symptoms of Paggs were headaches, muscle pain, vastly increased appetite and vastly increased need for sleep. The Paggs were far more severe for pilots of high AP; almost unmanageable for pilots of +1000AP. However Paggs actually brought with it some positive effects. As it essentially put the pilot’s body into ultimate overdrive, the pilot would gradually develop a resistance to the negative side effects (except for the increased need for food.) This meant the pilot would develop better musculature and almost superhuman strength, healing and speed, and slowly normalize their sleeping pattern. Pilots who were not fully grown would experience peak growth, growing to sizes generally above what was normal for their species, and alleviating other health problems or disorders. Older pilots saw their aging reversed. Paggs also increased the pilot’s reaction time greatly, and most animus pilots quickly developed sub 5 millisecond reaction times. The soul itself would also become stronger through repeated training; much like training a muscle. This meant that many pilots which started out with a more modest AP would see theirs very slowly rise over time. Theoretically with decades of training on a specialized grid designed to handle natural AP, Anyone could be trained to become an animus pilot. (Though this would take decades with the current understanding.) Depending upon how hard a pilot pushed themselves during battle the Paggs could develop to varying degrees. Abilities and Weapons Even when not synchronized to a pilot, Animus suits were impressive pieces of hardware. The suits often had a backup power supply in the form of a Materium reactor. This could power the suit at lower power offering basic movement, low speed flight, operation of the armored panels around the control cavity and the control of some of the weapons. It was generally very clear when a suit was not AI Assistance Typically these systems were controlled by the suit’s keeper AI. Keeper AI were based off the stock Apasi AI type; able to grow and learn. As such to most new pilots the Keeper was a fairly generic electronic assistant but would grow and evolve. Unusually, the Keeper would develop into either a projection of the pilot’s personality; adopting a voice and personality similar, if not identical to theirs; or, more commonly develop into what the pilot projected onto them. If the pilot unconsciously or otherwise held a specific archetype of a companion, be they a lover, parental figure or friend that they idealized. Despite developing a very unique personality or voice, Keepers would always retain their core functionality and abilities, while often forming emotional bonds with their pilots. Keeper AI could communicate with their pilots unconsciously and at extremely high speeds, relaying complex information in the span of an instant. They could help the pilot to analyze complex sensory or navigational data, make communication with commanders or other animus pilots or control weapons and other suit systems such as life support when the pilot was not focused on combat. Though the keeper’s most important duty was to manage the suit during synch and desynch operations. Suits were sometimes given other AI such as a Farsight AI and several Kasol AI to prevent hacking or launch their own cyber warfare attacks. The pilot had the ability to override the AI’s control of the suit and operate it fully analog, however. Arsium-Alloy Armor Animus suits were almost always armored in a material that was at least a few percent Arsium. Though not a significant portion of the armor the mass of the Arsium made animus suits incredibly heavy for what they were; often 3-4 times the mass of similarly sized mech suits armored in more conventional ways. (Arsium was cripplingly rare and to make a suit out of pure Arsium was almost impossible due to the metal becoming very difficult to work at higher purities.) This made the suits incredibly durable and able to resist even capital ship grade weapons fire, even when the animus field was not in play. Most battlefield weapons would do little more than scratch the paint work of the armor, if they did any damage at all. Animus Fields The Animus Field was the primary defensive mechanism of an animus suit. This field was projected by the pilot’s anima which surrounded the suit. It existed as a field of quantum probabilities which reduced the possibility of attacks doing significant damage to the suit and the pilot inside, with these probabilities becoming increasingly lower the closer they got to the suit. This field could extend hundreds of meters but was most concentrated directly above the armor of the suit and faded quadratically with distance. (Some pilots had what was known as a “double layered” field, in where a bubble of high concentrated quantum probabilities encased the suit at some distance. Pilots could even have triple or quadruple layered animus fields and could stagger the number of defensive layers in their animus field by concentrating more of their energy into the field. Often times these layers were not pure circles or bubbles and had more intricate patterns such as highly intricate and dynamic fractals hidden within their layers. Animus fields frequently interacted with the world around them. This was particularly evident near dust or water in where the animus field would create wind or water currents in complex patterns to show the power of the pilot’s defensive field. This could also be evident when weapons fire struck the animus field as it impacted the outer layers it would explode or dissipate in a non-random fashion, following the intricate fractal patterns of the field. Although animus fields could protect against all means of attack including psionic and magic they did have a significant weakness; that being that the pilot would feel pain when their animus field was struck with a sufficiently powerful blow. Pilots would feel more pain if the armor itself was damaged and completely agonizing pain if the animus grid was damaged. (Typically this would require capital ship grade weaponry.) Weaponry that focused a large amount of energy into a very small area could sometimes pierce all the way through and damage the armor directly, though using any form of conventional weapons was an extremely inefficient way to take out an animus suit, as by the time even the most powerful weapons pierced the suit . Animus fields, while they did have physical limits regardless of the pilot’s mindset, were generated from the pilot’s life force and willingness to fight and became more powerful and difficult to pierce if the pilot was steadfast or brave in the face of attacks and less powerful if the pilot is depleted, cowardly or depressed in their state of mind, although even cowardly or mentally defeated pilots still projected a considerable field subconsciously. In universe the only effective counter to an animus pilot is to engage them with another animus pilot. This is because when pilots engage one another in close combat their animus fields would collide into one another and (sort of like balloons or pillows being pushed into one another) merge their outer membranes or layers allowing two pilots in close quarters to much more effectively damage one another by bypassing a majority of the animus filed. This trick can also work to the benefit of pilots fighting in groups as allied pilots can share their animus fields; sharing the pain and depletion of an attack and creating a field that is greater than the sum of its parts. Often times when two pilots of opposing wills rush at each other at high speeds their animus fields would slam into one another creating what was called a field shock. This could create some combination of a large blast of wind or spacetime shockwave which could shatter everything for hundreds of meters in every direction, including a loud distortion sound, bright flash of light. Going into a field shock was very painful and often repeatedly going out of and back into close quarters combat was enough to seriously drain most pilot’s wills to fight and reserves of animus energy. Field shocks could be felt from tens or even hundreds of kilometers away. Note that IRP animus fields prevent any kind of ‘direct’ attack just like they would an indirect attack. For instance if you have a spell that sets the opponent on fire or turns them to goo, it won’t affect the pilot because of their animus field. Anima Servos Because animus suits would engage in melee ranges they bore extreme strength. Animus suits used specialized servos relying on the energies of the charged animus grid to articulate the suit’s joints. These servos took the place of muscles and could output insane amounts of force. Theoretically even low C-tier pilots could lift thousands of metric tons. A-tier pilots could easily lift into the millions or tens of millions of tons. Though this strength could rarely be exercised practically as the relatively small cross section of the suit’s arms or feet meant that the amount of force the exerted over an area at full would simply cause whatever they attempted to lift to collapse around them, or cause them to sink into the ground (even if the ground was solid rock). Displays of brute strength in the manner of this were rare, but possible to pull off if the animus pilot focused their animus field into carrying their own momentum. A Gryphon system made it much easier for the suit to push against ‘nothing’ and move massive objects. This would also mean an A-tier pilot pilot not properly focusing their animus field to counteract the forces of the blow, struck by a full force blow; punch or kick from another equally powerful animus suit could be sent flying, sometimes even at supersonic velocities from the sheer force of the impact. Animus suits had extremely high strength-weight ratios with regards to their mass. Animagram weapons Animus suits needed to engage other animus suits at melee ranges effectively. As such they made use of weapons. Though these resembled the mundane hard-light weapons utilized in the Dominion they were in fact far more powerful. Instead the “Hardlight” weapon was in fact a projector which guided and focused the ambient energy of the pilot, creating a disconnected but functional animus grid and focused their energy into the blade or head of the weapon (whatever it may have been.) In essence this made the weapon an extension of the pilots soul with an extremely powerful focused aggression animus field which massively increased the probability that the weapon would do significant damage. This allowed it to cut through the inner layers of an opponent’s animus field, but to be stopped by another opponent’s animagram weapon and nothing else. These weapons could utterly decimate mundane enemies or any form of practice target even on low power. Animus pilots could channel more energy into their weapon to cut through particularly tough defenses. When they did this the weapon (instead of appearing as a translucent light-glass blade, it would instead glow pure white bordered with whatever color of projector they are using. Imagine the visuals of a lightsaber but in a 2D plane.) The projector handles contained micro thrusters. These were useful if the weapon was somehow knocked away from their hand as it could control its direction with small rockets and return to the pilots hand. This also made throwing the weapon viable as the weapon could impact the target and then return to the pilot. The downside to this was the weapon become less effective the further it got from the pilot in physical space and the longer it stayed at a distance from the pilot. Some pilots were able to control their weapons with great effectiveness at extremely long distances. Pilots could project sourceless animagram weapons in or out of their animus armor, though these were generally much weaker, so much so they could be broken by a true weapon. Animus Energy Projectors Animus Energy projectors were the main means of the suit projecting energy, and the most important weapon aside from the animagram weapon. These were essentially amply sized gates which allowed the pilot to project their energy into a variety of forms. Though they could be anywhere on the body they were generally in the palms of the hands and bottoms of the feet. They could be any shape though were generally circular. On the second generation Synch suit the animus gates had the same functionality. Known abilities an animus pilot could preform using their projectors. Thrust The projector shoots out a jet of energy like a rocket engine propelling their armor. This jet of energy could be huge; visibly many times larger than the suit itself and quickly propel it to supersonic speeds in the air when the pilot directed enough energy to it. This move could also be used to avoid attacks or charge up a melee strike. Telekenisis The pilot can manipulate an object with a hand gesture. The object will glow the stock color of their projector; glowing more as more force is applied. This can be used to simply crush or throw aside lesser enemies, generally with fairly equivalent strength to what they can manage with their servos, but does not work on opposing animus fields though it can cause some disruption of them. Blast The projector shoots a diffuse beam or bolt of energy of varying degrees of destructiveness depending upon how much focus and energy the pilot channels into the blast. Homing Blast The projector shoots a bolt of energy (generally smaller and more concentrated) which seeks out the anima that the pilot mentally targets. This blast often explodes when hitting the target. Shield Wall The projector generates energy which beefs up the animus field. This can be visible as a wall or bubble of energy around the pilot. Wall defenses are stronger but only protect the pilot from one direction. These can block any attack a similarly powered animus suit can put out short of using their animagram weapon and can easily negate any conventional battlefield weapons including capital ship grade weapons. When multiple pilots of the same affiliation work together they can pool their energy to create much larger and more powerful shield walls. Animus Runes These runes were specific projections of animus energy that signified the pilot’s intention to preform a more complex action in combat; using their will and animus field to influence the battle, though they Animus Mandala of Brutishness This small Mandala was easy to create from one hand. The hand would then pass through the Mandala and it would wrap around the wrist. This let the pilot channel their energy into the next strike (either unarmed or with their Animagram weapon) focusing their full potential and might into the strike making it hit many times harder. Often combined with an overcharged weapon to cleave through the defenses of a much stronger pilot. Animus Mandala of impatience This large mandala was easy and quick to create. It would be projected in front of the pilot in staggered rings of runes and spinning arcs. The pilot would then run or fly through the rings which would increase the speed at which they reacted as well as the speed at which their suit moved. The pilot would only feel the undine strain placed upon their soul once the effects of the Mandala faded. Animus Mandala of Ignorance This Mandala, sometimes called the mandala of shunting, was used defensively and could be projected at a variety of sizes depending upon how much power needed to be absorbed. (Though it was typically projected by spreading ones arms apart making a directional shield in front of the caster.) It could absorb mundane attacks of unlimited power and was a suitable defense for the brutishness Mandala. Utilizing this Mandala as a defense shunted attacks off of the animus field into another dimension. Animus Mandala of Vindication This animus mandala was notorious for its long time to create and the toll it took on the pilot. The mandala created anywhere between four and twenty missiles; diamond shaped cones of animus energy which would rapidly and relentlessly pursue their target in a spiraling helix pattern. Upon striking each one was like a shaped charge of animus energy generated with the intent to kill. This mandala was one of the few ranged attacks that could kill a fully-shielded and motivated animus pilots, but was tricky to pull off due to its long time to create and immense drain on the pilot. Animus Mandala of incompetence Upon completion of this mandala it would be ‘pushed’ toward the enemy. If it hit them (it moved fairly slow as these things go, barely subsonic) the enemy’s animus energy would become infested by the aggressors causing them to be become far less proficient in combat. Their aim would be clumsy, their balance unsteady, their reaction times slowed, and their guard easily broken for a short time. Depending upon how much focus and power the pilot put into the Mandala the duration and severity of its effects would vary. Less experienced users of this Mandala sometimes set it off on themselves. Thrusters Although energy projectors could function as thrusters, the suits had two additional sets of thrusters designed specifically for aerial mobility; mounted in the sides of the legs just below the knee; these thrusters could swivel 360 degrees. The other set were in the shoulders and were the most powerful thrusters on the suit enabling its travel at hypersonic velocities, or propelling the suit when it lifted heavy things. Gryphon System Included in only second-generation dominion suits, a gryphon system was a pair of wing-like limbs which extended from the back of the suit with anywhere from one to four “blades” which shunted out ribbons of projected energy upon which the suit rode across. These were rather unique in that they were considered part of the animus grid yet not a part of the pilot’s biological anatomy, hence they took some practice to put into full use. They also put quite a drain on the pilot’s anima and hence were off limits to B and C tier dominion pilots due to the potential of anima fracture. Gryphon systems were the pinnacle of aerial mobility for an animus suit. In space; free of air resistance the gryphon systems could perform maneuvers at thousands of gees; and with vectoring thrust could change direction. Gryphon systems were also unique in that they allowed an animus suit the ability to engage in faster than light travel via tesseract jump. As such an animus suit could travel to mapped jump points. They could also travel indirectly via subspace dimensions. The disadvantage to wearing a gryphon system was that the wings existed outside the strongest parts of the animus field, hence while battlefield weapons short of anti-capital ship mounted guns (somehow) landing a direct hit, only other anima-based weapons could effectively damaging them. New ascendancy gryphon systems were built directly into the backs of their suits as a permanent fixture, making them more defended, efficient and powerful. Dominion animus suits had removable gryphon systems which were less efficient and powerful than ascendancy gryphons, but they had the ability to automatically detach. When detached and being controlled by the keeper they would fly out of the animus field making them very vulnerable to being taken out even by mid-grade battlefield weapons. Sensor Suite Animus suits had sensors mounted within the head which allowed them to scan and analyze the situation. These were fed to the pilot as sensory feed. There were visual sensors which showed the world in the visible spectrum, adaptive audio sensors which adjusted for the volume (since animus pilots fighting could create some very loud noises), and gyroscopic positioning sensors which allowed the pilot to maintain a sense of what was upright. The Keeper managed the remaining sensors; sensors which could scan the other other aspects of the EM spectrum, detect things such as gravity and magnetic distortions. They contained a paradox sensor which could detect higher dimensional anomalies, and an anima sensor which could detect the anima of other pilots. Secondary Weapons Systems The “bells and whistles” varied a lot from suit to suit. These were additional systems that were not standard. Anima Lotus Cannons Incorporated into generation two suits these were upgraded anima projectors with a single purpose; to fire a concentrated beam of energy that could pierce through animus fields and damage pilots at long ranges. The petals of the lotus were just below the elbow, on the arm; while the focusing beam was extended mechanically from the back of the hand; drawing energy directly from the animus gate there. They were also very useful for taking out capital ships. Saientium Rockets These miniaturized fusion rockets were mounted on the wrist and could be controlled by the pilot, or the keeper and worked just as well whether the pilot was in the suit or not. This meant that the keeper could make use of these when the pilot was not present in the suit; or the pilot could use them to get in extra damage when their anima was pushed to the max. Generally suits had 48 of these rockets, 24 in each wrist. Saientium Charge Bombs These larger bombs were stored inside the thigh plates. They could be magnetically clamped onto things. hit with more than a megaton of explosive force in their default state but the pilot could overcharge them with animus energy making them do even more damage. Typically Pilots carried at least 8 of these. Micro Mines Tiny airborne mines or micro-missiles, launched in the hundreds would swarm around weaker enemies or be used to lay traps. They functioned as miniaturized shaped charges and were very useful for taking out swarms of battlefield enemies. Sonic Harmonizer A sonic harmonizer was a weapon which targeted the resonant frequency of an enemy and hit them with sound that struck at that frequency. Like a singer hitting the right note and breaking a wine glass it could effectively shatter enemies. AMCS Shield An Active Magnetic Counter Shield protected the suit’s electronic systems from EMPS. Decourse Shield A Decourse shield protected the pilot from radiation. Survival Kit As pilots staying synchronized to their suits for long periods of time could have negative repercussions, and they might become stranded when on solo missions suits contained several survival kits. These kits contained food, water and basic survival supplies for remote planets such as a collapsible sleeping bag, light, communication beacon, and survival knife. The abilities provided by a pilot’s synch suit could also be useful for survival in such a situation. Category:Technology